Weather, hours get in the way of murals

NEWS-EXAMINER STAFF

Weather and the limited number of days before school resumes are altering plans for downtown murals.

Artist Terry Hreno and a crew of high school students gathered daily last week to start on two murals to be painted on two buildings along Central Avenue. They didn’t get to put up any paint.

A mural of Robert E. Wise, the Connersville High School graduate who went on to become a noted Hollywood movie director, was to be painted on the Issues and Answers building, facing 6th Street. A mural of several historic downtown buildings is to be painted on the south side of City Hall, facing 5th Street.

The group gathered at City Hall early in the week only to find moisture clinging to the brick surface. So, no painting.

Later in the week, they went to the Issues and Answers building. Work there will require a bucket lift and the city’s lift is available only until about 4 p.m., Hreno said. With school resuming in the middle of this week and the painters being high school students, that’s not going to give the kind of schedule to make painting feasible.

So, for now, the crew will be concentrating on doing the mural at City Hall after school hours. Scaffolding will continue to block the sidewalk for a few weeks until it is done.

The mural project is meant to enhance downtown appearances and is put together by Discover Connersville, the local Main Street organization. Funding is being provided by the Fayette County Foundation.